There is a tenseness to the situation, the two final combatants and a large majority of the arbiters all in this single place; the castle of Doomforall, the place this whole infernal contest is happening over. Neither Sasha nor Bear in Mind seem confident in what this means – the rules of this contest state that one of them has to die for this contest to be over, but neither feels confident that things would go their way, nor in which of the arbiters would side with them.

As this awkward impasse continues for a little while, and with no ideas coming to them, Bear in Mind decides that perhaps the only way forward from this is to contact some of the various arcane experts and see if perhaps at this point they can find a way forward. After using their communicator, over the next half an hour, first Sea Wizard, then Lissa and finally Anjushree teleport in via a selection of spells.

After analysing what is going down for a while, under varying level of scrutiny from the remaining arbiters, they finally prevent a series of options; they can either fight as the context intended, Bear in Mind could sacrifice itself allowing a new Bear in Mind to incarnate, Bear in Mind could contact the psy corps and have them meddle with the minds of the city to separate Bear in Mind into separate entities – one of which would then die, or finally, the three of them there could attempt to merge Bear and Mind into a single entity.

With no desire to die, Bear in Mind pitches he would be willing to try. Sasha eyes the other arbiters round her, and then stares out over the city, before turning back to the assembled beings. There is a sigh, and then...

“I agree”.

The ritual is long and complex, involving many runes and sigils, odd incenses and resins, Last of the Summer Wine DVDs and furby entrails. The sorcerers begin chanting, and as it reaches a crescendo, Bear in Mind and Sasha step into the circle and a brilliant flash of light illuminates the surroundings, blinding all who look.

Only a single being steps out.

The first silhouette suggests it is Sasha, but as the light fades, all can see that is not precisely the case. This new being still carries Sasha's staff, but is near half as tall again it looks more like a cane now – her hair is thicker and wilder and a near invisible downy fuzz covers her body and face. Her features are just a little more predatory, but a little rounder as well. And she is far more powerfully built than previously. As she steps forth from the circle, there is suddenly an enormous crack as the last two remaining stones shatter from around the castle and tumble to the earth, and the whole ground beneath them seems to begin to hum with energies as long dormant systems begin to boot up, now at the disposal of this new being.

It took the World Bearer a long time to get used to this new reality – reconciling the minds of two entirely separate beings into a single place isn't a simple thing after all...

As time progressed though, they began to reach a status quo. The World Bearer largely removed the Castle from the active day to day affairs of the world, and only intervened when existential threats occurred. While Bears Sans Frontiers were very pleased to have such a powerful representative, they did have to learn to make compromises. The newly re-invigorated Bee-peoples settled on the castle and seemed to act as informants for the World Bearer, while bears became known as emissaries to the various cities of the world. Kromgush and Peeg also became ambassadors to World Bearer for their service. Under such management, people were broadly happy with how the tournament had turned out – it certainly could have gone much worse.

With the role vacant, in a few months, a new Bear in Mind formed. Always percieved to be in the shadow of their predecessor, this one decided a back to basics approach and focused efforts on honey jars and pic-a-nic baskets.

The Being
The Being felt incomplete after the battle against Sikander and decided to go back to a quest it had been planning even before that. It travelled the world seeking out the most dangerous individuals it could, absorbing their powers. Then, recreating the ritual, it flung itself into the void to face down the terrible creatures known as the Four-Pronged Ones. It is not known exactly what happened there, for the Being never spoke of it, but many many years later, a strange pair appeared in Central Melded seemingly from nowhere – a strange grey humanoid and an elderly knight...

Durg
Durg retrieved Sexy Grammar Robot from her imprisonment within Doomforall's Castle, and then set out to find his friend, the former competitor known as the Volgorthan. Managing to communicate more of his origin, Durg decided to accompany the Volgorthan back to his home dimension and wreak havoc on those who had enslaved his friend. Sexy Grammar robot accompanied them and has been doing her work subtly; tales tell of a warrior who fights like a demon and can use parentheses accurately at least 40% of the time.

Tellu, Cyrus, Scarlett and Quinn
Tellu poured her magical energy into the Timesplitting Oak, and eventually Eudial emerged, rejuvenated from it. After a series of intensive flashbacks to explain what had happened, the pair tracked down a way to transport between certain locations in dimensions to travel “upstream” against the flow of the universe. Teaming up with Cyrus, Scarlett and Quinn, they resolved to return to their home dimensions, and once sufficiently prepared, set off on the voyage to their homes.

Richfield
With all the tournament concluded, Dr Richfield threw himself deep into politics, and within the elections was the favoured mayoral candidate for the entire city, banking in large part on the ratings gained from his part in ending the conflict. However, a rogue member of the psy-corps revealed his cannibal-serial killer tendencies to the general population with weeks to go, causing a massive media storm. Fortunately for Richfield, it turns out that apparently being a cannibal serial killer isn't actually a deal-breaker for a sizeable portion of the voter-base these days.

Professor Vengeance
Furious at his untimely demise, by the time he was up to full capacity again and had procured the elaborate items needed for his perfect revenge, Tellu had already left the universe to try and get home. With tracking her seeming actually fairly dull when he got down to the reality of it, he instead slandered her name. This resulted in a resurgence of the Church of Vengeance who became far more militant and aggressive than they ever had been before, and instituted Tellu as their devil-figure.

Eventually Vengeance got bored again and returned to his own dimension to commit more magnificent crimes, but the chaos he left behind, up to and including a potent Guild of Nefariousness and several Nation States in which the Church of Vengeance was law, was certainly enough to keep the world occupied in his absense.

The Prisoners of Sikander
Adaman, Bob, Karstryl, Mikhail, Mira

It takes a few days for the prisoners to come around to full cohesiveness after their ordeal inside Sikander's machine – there had seen some fundamental drive to them that had been lost for a while, and it is not something recovered easily... None of them recognise the woman known as Samira, and she vanishes off into the city before any can investigate what is going on.

Adaman finds a home in the Mad Science District – it takes him a little while to get up to full speed on all the vagaries of their technology, but he has the right aptitudes, and after apprenticing to
several of the scientists, opens up his own workshop which enjoys some degree of success.

Bob does briefly begin a career as a photographer, but as an unintended consequence of some changes to Melded law, he ended up classed as a bioweapon due to his lack of hygiene, and is now forced to live in a special contamination draining vault.

Karstryl returned to team Rocket and began his quest again. He made various cunning tactical decisions that should have made him a being to be feared in the city, but he soon discovered the fatal flaw in Team Rocket – for reasons unexplained, they are disproportionately vulnerable to plucky pre-teens who love and trust their friends, and was thwarted time and time again.

Mira returned to explore the stars. However, over time the scepter began to talk again, and at some point she just vanished. There is some suggestion that seemingly innocuous parts of some deals she made have actually bought the great evil lord Berenhotep nearer to return...

Samira, the being formally known as Mikhail was forever frustrated. Never quite knowing what she wanted, she flitted between various jobs and half fulfilled plans before vanishing altogether. Those in the know mention that Hortense finally caught up with what had happened, and sent men after her, though whether Mikhail escaped, was captured or killed is a mystery.

Lissa
After the ordeal of the trial, Lissa threw herself back into academia with a force. She became the youngest archmage to be formally recognised, and highly in demand for her defensive magics – financing her studies by designing protection spells for the rich and famous.

Kerenhotep
Kerenhotep vanished from the scene entirely after her disappearance from the God-Prison. It seems a being of her power is probably out there, plotting something no good – rumour is she is hunting down both Doomforall and those who would ressurect her father.